Supreme Court Stays MP High Court Order For Vigilance Enquiry Into Trial Judge’s Work Of 5 Years

The Supreme Court has stayed the Madhya Pradesh High Court order directing a vigilance enquiry into the judicial work of a POCSO Special Judge for the last five years. The High Court had made adverse remarks against the judge, calling his conduct “intellectual dishonesty” for relying on scholar register evidence in convicting a person under POCSO Act, and ordered an investigation into his judicial work over the past five years. The Supreme Court bench of CJI BR Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran stayed these directions while hearing the challenge to the High Court’s order.

The petitioner judge, Vivek Singh Raghuvanshi, had convicted the accused relying on testimonial evidence and the scholar register, but the High Court set aside the conviction based on an ossification test report indicating the victim was not a minor, and noted the victim’s live-in relationship with the accused. The Supreme Court stayed the High Court’s adverse remarks and the vigilance enquiry order pending further orders.